"You arrogant brat! Don't you dare mock us!"
Exploding with rage at Marcos’s provocation, one of the samurai leveled his katana and charged. He adopted a thrusting stance, unleashing a strike backed by his full body weight and momentum. Marcos remained unmoved, calmly shifting the Giga Scissors forward to catch the blow without a hint of struggle.
"Ngh...!?"
The samurai’s burning rage vanished, replaced by a sudden, icy clarity. He had poured every ounce of strength into that strike, yet there was no feedback—it felt as if he had tried to drive his blade into a massive boulder. Panicked, he attempted to scramble back and regroup, but it was already too late.
"Naïve," Marcos said. "I am not the type to overlook such an opening."
"Gwah...!"
Marcos swatted the katana aside and delivered a sharp thrust with the spear in his right hand. Caught completely off guard, the samurai’s body folded as he was hurled backward. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Their comrade’s swift defeat stunned the remaining samurai. Realizing that reckless, heavy strikes were useless, they shifted their approach.
"Use quick strikes!" one shouted, coordinating the group. "Don't aim for a finishing blow yet! Overwhelm him with a flurry to create an opening, then strike!"
As expected of warriors serving a prestigious house, their technique was refined. One samurai, likely a specialist in the Wind Style, rained down a barrage of swift, sharp cuts. Yet Marcos didn’t break a sweat. He stoically parried every blow with the Giga Scissors.
"Damn it! Why won't his guard break!?"
"It is only natural," Marcos replied. "Who do you think I have been sparring with every day until now?"
From the samurai's perspective, it was incomprehensible that his specialty—the Storm Dragon Swordsmanship: Wind Style—was being completely nullified. For Marcos, however, it was expected. He had spent countless hours training against Ryuga Renjo. Compared to Ryuga, these samurai were amateurs. Ryuga was faster, sharper, and his slashes carried a crushing weight that these men simply lacked.
Marcos read the desperate warrior’s pattern perfectly. Just as the samurai's momentum peaked, Marcos knocked the blade off course. A sharp clang rang out as the katana was parried. By the time the man realized his posture was shattered, it was too late. Following the shield parry, Marcos delivered an unavoidable thrust with his spear. The tip slammed into the man's torso, and he collapsed on the spot.
"Well? Who's next?" Marcos provoked. "Hurry up and come at me."
"Guh...!"
Faced with Marcos’s effortless victory over two of their own, the remaining samurai recoiled. They were no longer fueled by anger, but by a mounting sense of pressure.
Watching from the sidelines, Melt and the others stood in a daze. This was a Marcos they had never seen before. "What... what was that? Since when could Marcos fight like that?"
"To be blunt, it looks plain," Raiha commented. "But it's a perfect style. There isn't a single opening."
"Yes," Melt agreed. "He’s found a way to sharpen his strengths while completely erasing his weakness."
Historically, Marcos's biggest flaw had been a simple lack of offensive output. While the Giga Scissors could store and release magic power for a counter-burst, he was essentially forced to act as a punching bag until that charge was ready. This limitation had been painfully clear during their previous encounter with the Magic Armor Beasts on Shandia Island. Despite possessing peerless defensive skills, he lacked the means to seize the initiative. That was the massive divide between him and fighters like Yugo or Ryuga, who balanced offense and defense at a high level.
The solution, however, was deceptively simple: hold a weapon in his right hand.
By doing so, he gained a consistent method of retaliation while maintaining his ironclad guard. Marcos was no longer a passive defender; he had gained a wealth of tactical options. He could leverage the overwhelming defensive utility of the Giga Scissors and his refined technique to bait the enemy, then punish their slightest slip with a lethal counter-thrust from his spear.
The shield and the spear—a combination proven by history itself. While the others wondered when he had found the time to master the weapon, Elena watched with a joyful, knowing smile.
"Hehe! You kept your promise to Papa, Marcos! I knew you could do it!"